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Abstract: 

In 1977, Del Martin launched the battered women’s movement by publishing the first popular book on domestic violence (DV), “Battered Wives”. Not since then has anyone sympathetically re-examined that view wholesale until Evan Stark published “Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life” (Oxford University Press, 2007, 452 pp). Stark does a real service in introducing a whole new look at DV, and what aspects of DV most harm women. In the process, he also gives us a history of the DV movement and explains why it is women and not men who are harmed. Unlike Martin’s book, which was an easy read, Stark’s book is considerably longer, more scholarly, and more reflective, making it not as quick or easy to digest. But that should not deter any of us from reading it.

Keywords: DV Movement; Del Martin; “Battered Wives”; Evan Stark; “Coercive Control”

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